Monday, November 30, 2015

While in Charleston, South Carolina, over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a chance to monitor the military trunk radio systems (TRS) in the area. Due to the holiday, activity was fairly light so I did not make a lot of progress tying up TRS talk group identifications (TGID).

One of the systems is located on the Charleston Naval Weapons Station (NWS) and is a 380 MHz trunk radio system.

Talk Group IDs on this system used numbers from the 286xx series. TGIDs 28647 and 28653 were noted on both the NWS site and Charleston AFB site. These have been previously IDed as Fire and Law Enforcement dispatch TGIDs respectively. They cover both bases. Some encryption was noted on the law enforcement TGID.

The new critical information uncovered this trip involved the trunk radio system on the Charleston AFB. This system leveraged the existing ELMR system on the Weapons Station when it was placed on the air in 2012.

Unlike the NWS system, the CAFB TRS operates in the US Federal government 400 MHz UHF band. The Site ID fully indicates that it is part of the Navy ELMR system (see article below for confirmation of this fact).

Finally here is the DoD article published in 2012 regarding the trunk radio system on the Charleston AFB.

JB Charleston uses ELMR to bridge geographical gap

by Staff Sgt. Nicole Mickle, Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs

Story at a Glance

• By utilizing the existing Weapons Station ELMR solution to expand on the Air Base, the 628th CS was able to generate an investment savings of $3.5 million. ELMR equipment has been in operational use since Feb. 25, 2012, at the Air Base.

• The ELMR System is a non-tactical Navy Installation Command sponsored conformant trunked land mobile radio system. This system is being implemented Navy-wide and will eventually interconnect all Navy sites onto one comprehensive communications network.

By utilizing the existing Weapons Station ELMR solution to expand on the Air Base, the 628th CS was able to generate an investment savings of $3.5 million. ELMR equipment has been in operational use since Feb. 25, 2012, at the Air Base.

Land Mobile Radios are hand-held voice devices, much like a walkie talkie, used to speak on any Ultra High Frequency range over a network of equipment designed to enhance signal strength and quality.

The ELMR System is a non-tactical Navy Installation Command sponsored conformant trunked land mobile radio system. This system is being implemented Navy-wide and will eventually interconnect all Navy sites onto one comprehensive communications network.

"The Navy was utilizing an ELMR network that essentially put the NWS on a grid of other ELMR systems which enabled the master control site to view and route voice traffic to any user on the network," said Tech. Sgt. Nathaniel Swab, 628th CS Transmissions Systems non-commissioned officer in charge. "It enables a user on the Weapons Station to speak with users at other sites such as Norfolk, Va., Jacksonville, Fla. or any other user on the network."

The system change required coordination between the 628th CS and the ELMR master site in Norfolk. The old LMR equipment, used by the Air Base, had to be replaced with equipment that was compatible with the Navy's ELMR system. Once the equipment was installed, the site was added to the network. The Air Base can now connect to the Weapons Station, as well as an entire network of ELMR users worldwide.

"One of the key benefits of the ELMR system is that it offers another means of local communication to be monitored at a long range in case of a disaster scenario," said Swab. "First responders can be aided from afar because a controller can listen to real time on-site responders without having to be in the disaster zone."

ELMRs are primarily used for quick, coordinated responses between first responders and provide centralized communication capabilities via handheld units, mobile and base stations. The ability to relay information between installations in the event of a natural disaster or emergency situation is critical.

"First responders can coordinate operations across one channel for two sites," said Swab. "In the past, the two towers, one located on the Weapons Station and the other on the Air Base, were not able to talk to each other. The ELMR puts both sites on one network. This allows dispatchers to reach first responders at two situations if needed. In the future we are looking at a goal of joining civilian first responders to our extensive ELMR network."

"This was huge in affording first responders and the installation commander the ability to rapidly bridge the geographical gap between the Air Base and Weapons Station to maintain situation awareness and relay critical, crisis information," said Lt. Col. David Joerres, former 628th CS commander. "It's an exciting time to be a cyberspace operator."

Monday, November 02, 2015

Here is a good one to watch for on your Mode-S box. On 1 Nov 2015 Mode-S Hex address ADFB2C was spotted around 2347 UTC. Not sure which box had it but ... the airframe associated with that address reported its altitude as 80,000 feet.

They’ve been flying as TEAL
7# and TEAL 8# flights. Earlier this morning, I caught TEAL 71 (WC-130J,
97-5304, 53 WRS) depart Hunter AAF just before 0500 local/0900 UTC. It routed
to the south on 132.925 and 124.675 with Jacksonville Center, advising they
that were on a mission to the hurricane. Later, they told Center that they
would be delaying in the Hurricane for approximately 5 hours. I lost TEAL 71
on the radio as they went out of range, but Jacksonville Center’s sites were
still patched together for the night, so I could still hear the controller
passing information to them. Just after 0530 local/0930 UTC they were given
3.445/5.550 for New York HF
and switched over shortly thereafter.

With Joaquin’s change in
position as it moves to the northeast, the frequency sequence used this
morning is different from yesterday’s. The sequence this morning for TEAL
73’s departure was 124.975 with Hunter AAF to 120.400 with Savannah
Approach/Departure, followed by 132.925 with Jacksonville Center to 135.050
with Jacksonville Center. The HF air traffic control frequencies relayed to
TEAL 73 this morning were 8.918 and 6.586 USB.

According to the
National Hurricane Center’s Plan of the Day, there will be missions from TEAL
71 and 72 later today (10/4/2015) and this evening:

2. SINCE 1962, THOUSANDS OF NMCM
MEMBERS HAVE PROUDLY PROVIDED MORAL AND WELFARE SUPPORT TO THE NAVY, MARINE
CORPS AND COAST GUARD AS WELL AS CONTINGENCY COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT TO THE
NAVY AND CIVIL AUTHORITIES. THROUGHOUT ITS 53 YEAR HISTORY, NMCM MEMBERS
PROUDLY SERVED THE NAVY AND EMBODIED THE NAVY'S SPIRIT ANDTRADITIONS THROUGH
THEIR VOLUNTEER SERVICE.

3. ARMY MARS EXPRESSES OUR SINCERE THANKS TO THE
NMCM MEMBERS FOR THEIR DEDICATION TO THE MARS PROGRAM. TO THE NMCM
MEMBERS WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO TRANSFER TO EITHER AIR FORCE OR ARMY MARS, I
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED DEDICATION TO SUPPORT THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
THROUGH THE MARS PROGRAM.

SIGNEDSTEPHEN G. KLINEFELTERCHIEF, ARMY
MARS

Many years ago I was a very active NMC MARS member. I fondly remember running RTTY and Phone Patch traffic out of Subase Pearl Harbor for the boomer boats based at Pearl but deployed from Guam. Truly an end of an era.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Navy will accept its advanced diesel submarine into service a month ahead of schedule after extensive overhauls, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.

Dygalo said the Vladikavkaz, a Kilo-class diesel submarine first commissioned by the Russian Navy in 1990, will return to service on Wednesday having had its military and performance characteristics significantly improved.

He cited Navy Deputy Commander Rear Adm. Viktor Bursuk as saying the overhaul included hull, equipment and other system repairs, as well as upgrades to communications, navigation, traffic control, naval combat data, propulsion control and other systems.

Vladikavkaz passed all the speed, handling, noise and many other parameters designated by the Navy during tests in early August 2015, the Navy spokesman added.
The ceremony marking the signing of the submarine’s handover is slated to take place at the Zvezdochka shipyard in north Russia in the presence of the Main Command of the Navy.

Kilo-class submarines, sometimes dubbed "Black Holes" for their ability to "disappear," are thought to be one of the quietest diesel-electric submarine classes in the world.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

America's new aerial refueling tanker, the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus, is set to make its first flight from Boeing's Paine Field in Everett, WA this Friday. It's about time: America's existing airborne tanker fleet is stunningly old. Derived from Boeing's Dash 80 (the prototype of the 707 airliner), the KC-135 Stratotanker entered service with the USAF in 1957. The Air Force currently operates more than 400 of them as KC-135Rs or KC-135Ts. The newest KC-135 currently in the inventory was built in 1964, though it was upgraded along with the others to KC-135R configuration with new engines in the 1980s. Avionics and cockpit upgrades continued through 2014. The KC-135Rs are expected to remain operational until 2040, nearly a century after they were first built. But even with the upgrades, keeping a tanker flying so long inevitably presents reliability and cost problems. So gradually replacing the KC-135 with a new tanker has been an Air Force priority for more than a decade.

It just hasn't gone very well.

The long and troubled history of the tanker replacement effort stretches back to the early part of the last decade, when the Air Force announced the purchase of 80 Boeing KC-767 aircraft and the lease of 20 more. The Pentagon froze the contract in December 2003 and cancelled it in January 2006 following public revelations of corruption connected to the contract. A subsequent KC-X program selected the EADS/Northrop Grumman KC-30 (renamed the KC-45A for the U.S.) over the KC-767 in early 2008. Boeing protested that selection, leading to a new competition in 2010. This time around Northrop dropped out and the Pentagon chose Boeing's 767-based tanker design (KC-46A) in February 2011. Boeing is slated to build 179 KC-46As for the Air Force by 2027 at a unit cost of $188.5 million (in fiscal year 2015 dollars).

Boeing says the KC-46 "promises to revolutionize the air mobility mission." Setting aside that grandiose talk, what we know right now is that the airplane can refuel all U.S., allied, and coalition military aircraft compatible with international aerial refueling procedures. It also has the ability to play other roles for the military, such as carrying passengers, cargo, and patients. The KC-135R can do these things, too, but Boeing says the KC-46 offers room for three times more cargo pallets, up to twice as many passengers, and more than 30 percent more aeromedical evacuation patients compared to the KC-135R. The KC-46 can take off from shorter runways and is far more fuel efficient as well.

Of all the Pegasus's advantages, perhaps the most important is simply that it's a new airplane. The Pegasus' aircrew will enjoy improved situational awareness with a fully modern cockpit and refueling station, the former using 15-inch 787-style advanced electronic displays, redundant displays, and controls. The aircraft can refuel using both its fly-by-wire boom and wing-mounted hose-and-drogue systems. The Pegasus is designed to operate through a nuclear or biological attack, and is hardened against an electromagnetic pulse. According to Boeing, sections of the aircraft are also armored against medium-caliber gunfire though just where a KC-46 might encounter medium caliber gunfire (at low altitude/on the ground?) is an interesting question.

Those improvements come with a marginal increase in fuel delivery capacity. According to the Air Force, the KC-135R has a maximum transfer fuel load of 200,000 pounds (that's how much fuel it can give to other planes or UAVs). The KC-46's maximum transfer fuel load is 207,672 pounds-an increase of less than one percent despite the Pegasus' greater size, takeoff weight and thrust. The KC-135R can also carry more cargo (83,000 pounds) than the KC-46 (65,000 pounds) according to the Air Force.

Still, the KC-46's newness is crucial to Air Force tanker support. Boeing is required to deliver 18 operational tankers to the fleet by August 2017, a timeline that makes this Friday's first flight hugely important, particularly since Boeing was forced to postpone the first flight earlier this summer after a problem with the aircraft's refueling line during testing. It's a tense time: Boeing is under pressure to deliver on schedule or risk losing the contract. Likewise, the government risks breaching the contract with a continuing resolution because it may then not be able to buy the contractually agreed number of airplanes in the first couple years.In an interview with Defense News Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh said, "We're at a point now where we really need to see the first flight of this tanker."

As a new service to our blog readers, the Milcom Monitoring Post Blog, Btown Monitoring Post Blog and the Shortwave Central Blog are now uploading audio clips of selected radio intercepts we have heard. You will be able to see them in selected file list to the right of this post. Here is a sample of a recent longwave intercept made by Gayle W4GVH and posted to her AudioBoom account. You can follow both N5FPW and W4GVH AudioBoom post by clicking on one of the audio files in our library and when on our AudioBoom pages click follow. Good hunting de Chief.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Tyler Rogoway has written another interesting article on the Air Defense System that surrounds Washington, DC in the aftermath of 9/11.

Washington DC and the region around it sits under highly monitored restricted airspace, known as the Washington DC Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). As you fly closer to the center of this zone, the restrictions become increasingly intense, with the areas over the National Mall and the National Observatory being totally restricted to civilian and commercial aircraft.

Washington D.C. is a fast moving place, and for those in the very top echelons of power, both time and security trump cost efficiency when it comes to transportation. The Department Of Defense has trio of helicopter squadrons ready to fly these VIPs around the region, and to safety should something catastrophic ever occur.

The three squadrons covered are the US Army 12th Aviation Battalion, the US Air Force 1st Helicopter Squadron, and the US Marine Corps HMX-1 VIP Transport Squadron.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Tanks on a freight train shortly after its arrival at a railway station in the southern Russian town of Matveev Kurgan, near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Rostov region, May 26, 2015. (Reuters photo)

The Russian military has begun reviving its old Soviet-era armored trains, a Czech Republic newspaper reported Friday. The revelation, which was hinted at earlier this month when the Russian minister of defense said that four of the armored trains could be recommissioned, is part of Russia's $400 billion project to modernize and expand its military.

Friday, August 28, 2015

STUNNING VIDEO: A F-22 Raptor and F-16 Viper did a flyover New York City Thursday. They flew by One World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty, and several other landmarks. http://7ny.tv/1hj6RBs. The planes were making their way to the New York Air Show.